A trap many people fall into when starting to lift weights is the myth of quantity = quality. You don't need to do a million isolations and whatnot like bodybuilders do, at least not when starting out. If you do it right, you're going to be exhausted after doing those big compound lifts.

it never is quantity=quality, if you're doing reps comfortably, add more weight.

5th May 2012
Last edited by Maucer; 5th May 2012 at 02:25PM.
Post #1042

My extertion headache is back. I was doing high rep squat sets for change when it struck at 13th rep @ 100kg. Now I can't do shit without the pounding at the back of my head. It always seems to begin after 4th heavy rep.
Gladly I'm going to Spain on Wednesday so I would have taken a weeks break from lifting anyway.

I've been doing weight training since about 2 years now and have been doing cardio all my life. One thing I noticed during weight training is that my sweat smells much more neutral and really doesn't stink all that much as when I'm going runnig/cycling or even a game of basketball or football. I'm curious, does anyone else have this? Google didn't help.

Now that you mention it, I think my sweat also smells less bad than when I go do cardio, but I'd imagine that might have something to do with the clothes (or the lack of them) in my case. Maybe the clothes you run in don't get a wash as often as the shirts/pants you lift weighs in?

What's the best way to get rid of soreness? I'm still sore from yesterday, and i'm going to gym again tomorrow. Can it be done as a warm up exercise? I usually run 10 mins in a high speed as warm up.
Also, i started SS PP and it feels good, i'm gonna keep doing it for now. ( This is why my legs is sore )

I've started going to the gym for about 3 weeks now, go about 3-4 times a week. I'm 17, 5'10 and weigh 164

On my upper body days I do (spaced out) around 4 sets of 10 for biceps, same on the chest press which includes triceps, 2 sets of 10 for shoulders, 100 crunches and around 20-25 minutes of cardio on either the treadmill or stairmaster. My lower body days are far less productive though

Would you guys say this is an ok workout? I'm not looking to drop 50 lbs or look like Arnold Schwarzneggar, just maybe lose some weight and gain some muscle, just get in overall better shape

I've started going to the gym for about 3 weeks now, go about 3-4 times a week. I'm 17, 5'10 and weigh 164

On my upper body days I do (spaced out) around 4 sets of 10 for biceps, same on the chest press which includes triceps, 2 sets of 10 for shoulders, 100 crunches and around 20-25 minutes of cardio on either the treadmill or stairmaster. My lower body days are far less productive though

Would you guys say this is an ok workout? I'm not looking to drop 50 lbs or look like Arnold Schwarzneggar, just maybe lose some weight and gain some muscle, just get in overall better shape

I wouldn't neglect legs much as they are massive muscles and require a lot of energy and are generally important. Try learning how to squat and dead lift, and start light.

I like how the article on the wall says "sweat, protein secrets to success"
Ask your dad about the needle that goes in his bum and shoulders a few times a week too, that might speed things up considerably for you.

My dad is actually natural, thanks. He's competing next weekend. All shows he does are tested.

Unfortunately urine tests do not show everything. You'd need blood tests that would include isotope measurement ect to see which substances are not from his own body -> way way too expensive. Besides I doubt he's tested much during training season. If competes in real BB and he is succesful, it's pretty obvious that he has been on roids. Sad but true.

9th May 2012
Last edited by Vancity; 9th May 2012 at 05:52AM.
Post #1071

Unfortunately urine tests do not show everything. You'd need blood tests that would include isotope measurement ect to see which substances are not from his own body -> way way too expensive. Besides I doubt he's tested much during training season. If competes in real BB and he is succesful, it's pretty obvious that he has been on roids. Sad but true.

He's never touched them, never will. I know this because he's my father, my own flesh and blood. The size he's at is from 30+ years of hard work and dedication, his size is very achievable, it's just whether or not people wanna work their ass off to get it, or be lazy fucks... Like Ronnie says "Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but don’t nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weights."

Edited:

Also, on a side note.. He'd be A LOT bigger if he took roids. And his muscle is very natural looking, guys on steroids you can easily tell, looks like a balloon that can be popped with a pin.

9th May 2012
Last edited by Kabstrac; 9th May 2012 at 07:14AM.
Post #1072

Doesn't matter whether he is right now, was or even planning to. Stop caring so much about others, it's as if you people are not secure enough about how you look so you've got an urge to criticize others, to feel better about yourselves.

Unless you failed while using those same substances or able to say, "I tried my fucking best and failed" there's no need to criticize others or feel disappointment.

Keep deadlifting, squatting. There will always be someone who's better than you, you are not the only one trying.

Doesn't matter whether he is right now, was or even planning to. Stop caring so much about others, it's as if you people are not secure enough about how you look so you've got an urge to criticize others, to feel better about yourselves.

Unless you failed while using those same substances or able to say, "I tried my fucking best and failed" there's no need to criticize others or feel disappointment.

Keep deadlifting, squatting. There will always be someone who's better than you, you are not the only one trying.

He's never touched them, never will. I know this because he's my father, my own flesh and blood. The size he's at is from 30+ years of hard work and dedication, his size is very achievable, it's just whether or not people wanna work their ass off to get it, or be lazy fucks... Like Ronnie says "Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but don’t nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weights."

How does the fact that you share a lot of DNA change anything? He can still lie.

Scooby is weird. He has a huge chest but no delts. Which makes me want to say he didn't do roids. but dat chest is ridiculous.

Take in consideration he has been training for 20+ years, presumably doing insanely high-volume, time under tension, low rest intervals, extremely slow tempo and high reps he's done just about anything exactly right for him to be able to attain such size.

He's a good inspiration for kids in terms of safety and some guidelines, but other than that I rather people take what he says with a grain of salt.

Edited:

I think most of you will find this useful:

1. Performing too many isolation exercises
An exercise is only as good as the time it takes you to adapt to it. Provided you use enough load for enough time, all exercises can build muscle. It’s just that some exercises do it better than others.

It has to do with what the German strength physiologists call the scale of motor unit recruitment. For example, cam exercises for a given number of reps recruit less motor units than pulley exercises, and pulley exercises recruit less motor units than dumbbell exercises. The more you stick to what we were designed for as animals (lifting rocks, carrying carcasses and generally just fighting against gravity), the better off you are. What that means is using free weights in preference to machines. A large, muscular physique is built from squats, dips, chins and deadlifts – not triceps kickbacks and cable crossovers.

2. Performing too many machine exercises
Remember this motto: “Seven days training on machines makes one week (weak)!” Again, because of the scale of motor unit recruitment, if you are the type who lines up at the gym for the lat pulldown machine, you are not going to grow as fast as the guy slaving away at the chin-up bar.

To see the maximum amount of muscle that can be packed on a frame, check out a Mr. Olympia competition. Photo by Milos Sarcev
3. Believing the bulking-up nonsense
In the so-called Golden Age of Bodybuilding where bodybuilders were known by their first names (e.g., Arnold, Louie and Sergio), bulking up in the off-season and then cutting up was standard practice. Besides the obvious health problems associated with adding excess fat, bulking up is a really bad approach to trying to achieve your physique or athletic fitness goals. Here are six reasons why:

ANTI-BULKING FACT #2. Bulking up develops insulin resistance, which makes it harder in the long run to gain muscle. What happens when you bulk up is that carbohydrates will go preferentially to fat stores, not to muscle tissue.

ANTI-BULKING FACT #3. Bulking up will make it harder for you to get leaner because insulin resistance is hard to reverse. The fatter you get, the harder it becomes to get lean. Female bodybuilders learn this fact quickly, as it is considerably harder for women to reach the low body-fat levels required for competition.

ANTI-BULKING FACT #4. The fatter you get, the more aromatase enzyme your body will produce. In the extreme, getting fat could be considered a form of self-castration, as your own testosterone will be converted into the female hormone estrogen and you will suffer many unwanted side effects. If you’re a man and you enjoy wearing a bra, go right ahead and get fatter.

ANTI-BULKING FACT #5. Getting fatter will ramp down the effectiveness of your thyroid hormone production – not a good thing, because thyroid production is essential for fat loss. The fatter your abdominal wall becomes, the less conversion there will be of T4 to T3, the metabolically active form of thyroid.

ANTI-BULKING FACT #6. The lower your percentage of body fat, the better your body becomes at nutrient partitioning. This means individuals with low body fat are more effective at storing the ingested nutrients in the muscle (as muscle tissue or glycogen) or in the liver (as glycogen) and less effective at storing nutrients as body fat. To put it in simpler terms, leaner individuals can eat more nutrients without gaining fat.

ANTI-BULKING FACT #7. The idea that “a calorie is a calorie” is a bunch of bunk. Calories from sweet potatoes are great for building muscle; calories from beer are not. For that matter, getting fat increases the risk of dying from any cause, even terrorist attacks. I’m serious – you’re a bigger target and you can’t get out of danger as fast.

4. Burning too many calories outside the gym
You can’t effectively gain a lot of muscle mass if you play basketball four days a week and in the evening go to bars cutting the carpet till the wee hours, and then run up and down the beach on Sundays. My good friend Angus Cooper was a bronze medalist in hammer throwing at the Commonwealth Games. He used to repeat a poem that came from Al Schoterman, a PICP Level 5 strength coach who was a 1972 Olympian and Jud Logan’s hammer throw coach:

The Phases of Rest
Never run when you can walk
Never walk when you can get a ride
Never stand when you can sit
Never sit when you can lie down
Never lie down when you can go to sleep

5. Keeping your reps too low
Using relative-strength protocols are great to build up the nervous system to lift high loads, but they are not the fastest way to hypertrophy. That is why athletes who compete in set weight classes sport like judo and wrestling will do relative strength as they want to get stronger and not necessarily heavier. Alternating cycles of 9-12 reps with cycles of 4-8 reps is the quickest way to gain lean muscle mass. Occasionally doing sets of 20-50 can also boost mass gains in muscles with a relative higher proportion of slow twitch muscles like the quadriceps. Such high reps for hamstrings with are typically at least 60% fast-twitch would be a waste of time.

A post-workout bundle of whey protein, L-glutamine and glycine will improve recovery ability and help add muscle mass.
6. Failing to take post-workout shakes
Taking a post-workout shake is critical for mass gaining. In fact, the rate of protein synthesis and possibly muscle growth can double when protein is consumed immediately after a workout.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut at Storrs found that a protein/carb shake also helps increase the number of testosterone receptors.
For those athletes who are already lean, I’ve found that results are best when you use a formula that contains four carbs to every gram of protein. For carbs, you should be taking one gram per pound of bodyweight post-workout. For protein you should be taking 0.25g per pound of bodyweight. My recommendation for post-workout carb powder is Quadricarb.

7. Failing to stay hydrated
Water is often the most neglected nutrient. Dehydration leads to higher cortisol output; negative repercussions range from increased oxydative stress to the brain, to increased fat storage.

As a rule of thumb you should drink 0.6 to 0.7 ounces of water for every pound of bodyweight. In other words, if you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 120 to 140 ounces of water a day. An easy way to ensure that you are drinking your proper daily quota is to measure your prescribed amount into containers for the day, every morning. By bedtime, all the containers should be empty.

When first starting to do this hydration protocol, many individuals realize that they barely drink 40 percent of their water needs by the time they retire for the evening. This exercise in itself is very educational. From a practical standpoint the best indication that you are staying well hydrated is that your morning urine is clear and odorless. If it has the color of Vermont’s finest maple syrup, start drinking more water.

8. Drinking stimulating drinks all the time
Stimulants by their very nature increase cortisol. That is fine if you are on your way to the gym and are going to use that extra drive to increase loading. But once the workout is over, no more coffee, caffeinated drinks, etc.

One of the dumbest things I have seen was at Italy’s best gym in Tuscany: Locals would reach for the coffee machine post workout! No wonder I’d never seen anyone from that town bench or squat over 80 kg all week.

10. Consuming insufficient protein
For a 200-pound lean male, 300 grams of protein per day would be the minimum. In fact, I think the rule should be closer to two grams of protein per pound of body weight, assuming the person is lean.

For about 70 percent of the population who is not carb tolerant, two grams per pound is good for mass gains; it can make a huge difference. Personally, I couldn’t get above 192 pounds until champion bodybuilder Milos Sarcev convinced me to get two grams of protein per pound of body weight. In a matter of eight weeks’ time I was up to 205 pounds, lean.

That being said, if an individual is carb tolerant (i.e., handles carbohydrates very well), that value would drop to 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Someone like Christian Thibaudeau, who’s not carb tolerant, should be getting 2 grams per pound. But I’d say 1 to 1.5 grams for a guy like Milos Sarcev, who would be able to wake up and drink a gallon mixture of 50 percent maple syrup and 50 percent dextrose without it affecting his blood sugar. Guys like Milos need to get 70 percent of their calories from carbs.

The bottom line is that carb intake has to be individualized to an extent. Still, most people don’t “deserve” the carbs they eat. The rule for most people is this: You have to earn your carbs!